The liquid metals giving catalysis a new phase
By 
James Mitchell Crow2023-07-24T08:41:00
They’re not like solid metals or like other liquids, but scientists are starting to understand and exploit them. James Mitchell Crow reports
Liquid metals carry the heft, density and silvery sheen of their solid counterparts, but add a confounding fluidity. They’re unlike other metals, but unlike other liquids either. Mercury, for example, behaves quite differently to oils or water. A shimmering pool of the metal, when agitated, can break into beads that will skitter across a dish, only to coalesce like a self-healing molten mirror.
Liquid gallium can be spiked with catalytic species to produce alloys with activity far higher than comparable solid catalyst systems. Liquid metals’ fluid nature appears to act as more than just a convenient host system for single atom catalysis. Research increasingly suggests liquid metal catalysts could make waves in industrial and green energy applications.